Smoother animation ≠ Better animation [read pinned comment]
Why Hacker News recommends it
HN commenters recommend it in motion-smoothing and interpolation threads as an overview of why interpolation hurts animation.
What it is
Animator Noodle explains why frame interpolation does not make animation better, covering timing, easing, smear frames and using the wrong tool for the job. A pinned correction says the video is partly outdated given later AI developments.
Recommended by 4 HN commenters across 3 different months, 2022 to 2024.
What Hacker News said
Recommends nyx · 2023-12 · on “Switch off bad TV settings”
Counterpoint: this YouTube rant by an animation person called Noodle is a pretty good overview of why frame interpolation sucks. [this video] Basically, low FPS can be a stylistic choice, and making up new frames at playback time often completely butchers some of the nuances present in good animation.
Recommends zbirkenbuel · 2024-05 · on “Sakuga-42M Dataset: Scaling Up Cartoon Research”
Can't have a conversation about inbetween frames without sharing this[1] Noodle video. Now granted the interpolation there is pretty rigid, and the goal of this dataset will be to train an LLM replicate hand tweening, but I can't help but feel there's going to be a massive uncanny valley. [1] [this video]
Recommends vgbm · 2024-07 · on “Roku update turns on hated motion-smoothing feature, with no off switch”
A really good video on the subject: [this video] The gist is that, for animation, frame interpolation messes with intended timing and can produce incoherent images on interpolated frames and odd frame rate issues for certain kinds of animations. Interpolation can thus cause animations to lose their punch and feel wrong. While interpolation may be nice for live action films, it should still be an option to turn off.
Recommends kec · 2024-07 · on “Roku update turns on hated motion-smoothing feature, with no off switch”
This video is laced with profanity and focused specifically on animation, but give a pretty good overview of why interpolation does not inherently make things look better: [this video]
Cites bcraven · 2022-12 · on “FILM: Frame Interpolation for Large Motion”
The animator Noodle recently put this video on YouTube that explains why he despises the idea of interpolated video: [this video]
Cites internetter · 2023-05 · on “There oughta be a bullet time video booth”
I'm usually a big critic of AI, and I remember seeing people complaining years ago about increasing framerates with AI[0], but maybe this could be a good usecase. You do, say, half the cameras, and then some crafty solution to interpolate (filling in the edges with AI, some sort of angle adjust) [0]: [this video]